One of THE BEST things to do in Busan is to go to a Lotte Giants game. Busan loves the Lotte Giants and it’s clear when you go to the games – fans are loud – singing, cheering, and drinking throughout the game. It’s a breath of fresh air after the lethargic crowds at Cincinnati Reds games that I’ve been to over the past 20 years.

The 2012 Asia Series kicked off this week, with the best baseball teams from all of the major Asian leagues, along with the winner from Australia, competing to see who's the BEST in Asia! Our friend Jinho's sister gave him some FREE tickets to the game, so he invited Aaron, me, Gill, Sam, Crystal and his girlfriend Anne to go to the game today! FREE baseball tickets with some of my favorite friends?! "YEP! I'm in!"

Among the best experiences we’ve had in Busan have been our visits to Sajik Stadium to watch the Giants. Any American baseball fan who’s ever complained about their team’s high ticket prices, expensive food and drink, or paltry attendance, should definitely pencil in a day at the park while in Busan. This is the stadium experience perfected.

At this particular Giants game it was a close one. Although the Giants came out on top, it was neck-and-neck. The fans were off the hook, and it was captured in moments here and there. This guy was perhaps the Lotte Gianst fan, #1. Hiteing!

I was at a Lotte Giants game in July and some man caught a homerun ball. As usual, the chant began 아 주 라, and he gave it to a child. I was lucky enough to be nearby, saw this father's determined eyes to get the ball from the man who caught it, and snapped a shot. The little girl seemed to care less, but her father sure was happy!

Our first adventure to Sajik Stadium was just that, an adventure. The songs, the food, the cheers, and the pageantry were all on display. Here's my top ten list of things that make Korean professional baseball (Busan Lotte Giants specifically) great.

I’ve been anticipating the start of the Korean baseball season pretty much since the end of last season when, due to still being a newbie to Korea, I knew little about it and was likewise unable to secure any tickets to a game here in Busan. It’s a shame because the Busan squad, Lotte Giants, happens to be one of the better squads in league.

Talk of the Town
Greg Dolezal, Johnny Jung, & Bobby McGill go to
battle over

Lotte Giants Managerial Change

Halloween Festivities & Expat Nightlife Etiquette

AIDS Testing and Prevention

Host: Jeff LebowBusan Beat Stories

Relics
from the Chosun era have been found on the grounds of what used
to be Camp Hialeah. Camp Hialeah served as the U.S. military
base here
in Busan until it closed down a few years ago. There are plans to
renovate the area into a Citizen's Park, but as workers were
investigating geological features of the site, they found about 100
broken pieces of ceramic from the Chosun era which lasted from the late
14th century until the end of the 19th century. Workers also
found
horseshoes, most likely from era of Japanese occupation when the area
was used a horse race track. It is speculated that
there might be
more relics in the area dating back to the Three Kingdoms era of Korea.
If that turns out to be the case, the schedule for
renovation plans
may need to be adjusted.
On October 12th,
seven year old Kang Hyeung Wook(강형욱), a 1st grader, was picking up trash
in the school yard when he was accidentally struck by a car driven by
the school’s principal. Five days later, the child
died in the hospital. This tragic incident has led to an
uproar on a couple of fronts. Firstly, the school’s insurance
policy does not provide any compensation for the victim’s family.
The policy does not cover car accidents because it
is assumed that drivers are covered by third party automobile
insurance.

More significantly, there has been a call to prevent this
from happening again by making sure that drivers do not need to pass
through any area where children might be playing as they make there way
into and out of school parking areas. According to the
Education Board, in 60 out of 298 elementary schools in Busan, drivers
have to pass through the playground in order to exit the school.
Parents have formed an online movement to gather
signatures supporting a law that would ensure that the necessary
changes are made.

The X in KTX finally
comes all the way to Busan.
Today marks the opening of the new section of KTX line from Busan to
Daegu. KTX, Korea's high speed rail line opened in 2004 and
cut the travel time from Busan to Seoul 'almost' in half, but things
weren't really 'high speed' from Busan to Daegu because the new high
speed lines for that portion of the trip had not been completed. . That
all changes today as that portion of the KTX line opens, cutting travel
time to Seoul from 2:40 to 2:18, saving travelers 22 minutes... well,
at least three times a day. Many of the daily trains will
still make stops between Busan and Daegu, pretty much nullifying any
time savings. Still passengers will be paying more, regardless of how
long it takes to get there as the fare from Busan to Seoul will
increase W4,300 to W55,500. The stops along the newly opened
section are Busan Station, Ulsan, Shin-Gyeongju, and DongDaegu. The old
section, which will remain in use by some trains, stops in
Busan-Gupo-Miryang and Dong DaeguThese kinds of high speed connections
are expected to help the Southeast region of the peninsula develop
economically and Busan city is expected to use this opportunity to
promote other aspects of Busan Tourism including adding three more City
Tour buses in 2011, a musical theater at Jagalchi market, and adding
four more passenger waiting rooms and a transfer center at Busan
Station.

There are some concerns that all this high speed transit may lead to 빨대
효과 or the straw effect. Basically, because it's now so fast and easy to
get from these Southeast areas of the country to Seoul, that the high
tech industries and cutting edge facilities near 'Capital City' will
suck up talent from these smaller local economies.Every fall, the Goni (or Tundra
Swans - big pretty white birds) migrate through Busan on their way down
from Siberia to their winter homes down south. This year they arrived a
bit earlier than usual on October 29th. Last year, their
numbers had fallen as there was a shortage of their primary food supply
- 새섬매자기 Sae-som-mae-ja-gi. It’s an annual plants native to the area. .
This year however, food supplies appear to have returned to
normal and their numbers are increasing once again.
That Nakdong Estuary is the largest habitat in this area where
migratory birds stop by. Because of a dam that was built 20
years ago, several major highways in the area and nearby factories, the
overall number of migratory birds that pass through this area has
drastically fallen.

In Haeundae, a 19 year old woman who is HIV positive was arrested on a charge of knowingly
having sexual relations with 20 men she met through an internet chat
site. The court rejected the arrest warrant when it was revealed that
she is mentally disabled and has the mental development of an eight
year old. A prostitution victim protection organization “Sal-lim” and
psychiatrist pointed out that in light of this level of development, it
is not possible that can be held responsible for criminal action or for
taking these actions on her own. When the arrest first took place, the
woman's father had told the police that his daughter was forced to sell
sex by someone else, but police officers chose to charge her with a
crime.

She turned out to be HIV positive in March, not with AIDS so far. She
saw a doctor and took medical checkup and then was told she
is infected. Even after that she ran away from home frequently like she
did before, and then she made money by selling sex. In August her
father reported to the police saying “my daughter , HIV positive ,
seems to be forced to have sex relations by someone.” Police is tracing
the infection route and possible existence of pimp but the all efforts
have been in vain. According to the police 3 men who had
intercourse with her were HIV negative. Last week, two Wild
Boar-vehicle collisions occurred within 20 minutes of each other.
Around 1am on October 29, along the Busan-Ulsan highway near Geumjeong
mountain, a cargo truck hit a 60kg wild boar. 20 minutes later, along
the same road another car hit another boar. In both cases, drivers
received significant injury and the boars were killed. There are
approximately 60 wild boar living in the Geumjeong Mountain area and
their numbers are expected to continue increasing. Their search for
food sometimes leads to roads and residential areas. In fact, recently,
an 80kg boar was shot and killed when it made its way into a house in
the vicinity.